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Former trustee, alumnus William O. Baker dies at 90

Posted November 2, 2005; 04:22 p.m.

by Cass Cliatt

William O. Baker, a Princeton graduate alumnus and
former charter trustee who earned a national reputation as a
presidential adviser on science, died Oct. 31 in Chatham, N.J., at age
90.

Baker received his doctorate in chemistry
from Princeton in 1939 and was elected the Graduate School's first
representative to the University's Board of Trustees in 1964. After his
four-year term as an alumni trustee, he served as a charter trustee
from 1968 to 1986. During that time, he actively promoted science and
technology in his home state of New Jersey and deepened his commitment
to education by serving on the Citizens Commission for Higher Education
in New Jersey that restructured the governance of higher education in
the state. He later became a charter member of the New Jersey Board of
Higher Education.

In 1985, Baker was also a
founding member of the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology,
which was charged with building and enhancing research collaborations
among universities to increase opportunities for federal funding for
technology.

In recommending Baker for one of
his many awards for distinguished service to higher education in the
1990s, Princeton University President Emeritus Robert F. Goheen
described Baker this way: "On my part, I know of no layman who has
contributed so much so fruitfully to higher education in America
through the quality of his mind, dedication to educational improvement
and reform, a well mastered fund of experience, and an uncommon quiet
ability to help colleagues both grasp the essence of critical issues
and base their decisions more on ascertainable fact than wishful
thought."

Beyond his commitment to education,
Baker worked as a scientist at Bell Labs from 1939 until his retirement
in 1980. He served as the company's president from 1973 to 1979 and
also had the distinction throughout his years at the company of being
called upon by U.S. presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and
Reagan for his advice on issues of science, technology and national
security. Baker was awarded the President's National Security Medal in
1982 and the National Medal of Science in 1988.

Princeton
University recognized Baker's contributions to science and his 22 years
serving as a trustee by awarding him an honorary doctorate of laws in
1993.

There will be a private burial, but no
memorial service. Individuals wishing to make contributions in his
memory are being asked to donate to the National Academy of Sciences.